Judging captain Clarke
Peter English
25-Feb-2013
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Michael Clarke has completed his first full series in charge of Australia’s one-day team. In the Sydney Morning Herald Jamie Pandaram looks at Clarke’s leadership following an assignment that began with sending Andrew Symonds home.
Judging by hundreds of blog postings since Symonds' dismissal from the team camp in Darwin, Clarke has accomplished little to boost his ego. Rather, punters wrote, he needs to explain his actions, describing the 27-year-old as a Cricket Australia clone and ruthlessly ambitious leader-in-the-wings, among other critiques ...
It's hard to imagine Mark Taylor, Steve Waugh or Ricky Ponting having divided the public so early in their tenures, yet the differences between Clarke and any previous captain are so pronounced. The ear-bling, tattoos, cheeky on-field banter, right-handed batting and left-handed bowling, famous model for a fiancee and multimillion-dollar endorsements make him an ideal candidate for jealousy and criticism. Clarke won't flinch at blogs or public disapproval; he is known for delivering verbal barbs at team-mates and would expect nothing less in return.
Peter English is former Australasia editor of ESPNcricinfo